"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. All the nations on earth will be sad. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky. He will come with power and great glory. He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call. They will gather his chosen people from all four directions. They will bring them from one end of the heavens to the other."

I just finished William P Young's "The Shack". I literaly read it in one day, today. It was intense, and hit home many times. I really like his concepts on God. Not the pyramid heirchy, but the circular center geometry of it. The thoughts on rules and regulations being purely humanly self serving. And much more. It extends the non-intervening God premise, which I also believe in. It to me, actually takes away all logical premise in prayer, to be honest. Because most folks prayers are begging of God to intervene. God does not heal the crippled, I'm sorry. Nor stop the children murdered. I have and do alternate between the theory that in the final moments of a tragic and violent (be it accident or human violence) death, God is there with a warm blanket of protection during the final moments, but the other view I flip to is purely non God, that a physiological effect takes place, shock or whatever, that takes one from the pain, but that can be false also, as there are many accounts of people dying in horrific pain, begging for someone to end it quicker, even if it their own killer. This is touched on in the book, Macks concerns to God of what his daughter felt in the truck, on the way to her death, or when it was happening. This haunts me horribly in my two cases personally. Did Dale experience horrific terror underwater, and pain when he took in that last breath of water? I pray not. What did Derek think in that split instant when the truck was rolling and he started to be ejected? It is the fuel of insanity if you let it be. Sometimes it is.

I need to reflect on this book. I am jealous God wrote him an invitation. I am jealous he had a Shack. I have shook my fist at the sky, I have cussed God, I have dared Him to appear, challenged Him, mocked Him, did everything I could to make Him appear, so I too could hear answers. Let alone have home baked pastries and dinners and sit on the dock with Jesus looking at the stars. He never has come. I like to believe He is and has been there, or I would have killed someone by now or be totally bonkers, not just half.

There is no Shack, but it was a fantastic tool to share a wonderful insight into one mans take on what God really is or should be. Just being honest. I am glad I read it, but..... most of us just live with it, and "The Great Sadness" was just spot on. My folks lost children, we were nine and seven remain. My mom carried The Great Sadness with her, and she did it with dignity, and an ability to find joy in life in spite of. That is the task, and I now see how complex it must have been for her. My dad just never dealt with it. God Bless them both, they are with Bob and Karen now, maybe looking through the waterfall at me like in the book, I sometimes feel they are, and my boys too.

____________________*We Speak Analog* all else is a foreign language...

For me, one of the most important concepts was the "shattering of preconcieved notions" about God, who He is, what He does and how He does it and even why. I have not lost children to death, but.....there was a time when I thrashed and wailed at God for my grandchildren. The only answer for me was, they are not mine, they are His. Do I really believe I can love them better than He can? I cried, but how could You leave them in such frightening darkness? They were never alone. What they went through was only a tiny part of a much larger purpose. His, not mine. The event, was not done to me and if I could only trust and believe His promises and hear His words, I would eventually understand. "Now we see but a poor reflection..." Jesus promised me that if I believed in Him, He would save my whole house, He didn't say it wouldn't hurt. He didn't promise the work wouldn't be dirty or messy. But if I can take my eyes off myself and fix my eyes on Jesus, I can get through. When I read the book, I too was jealous. I want personification too. But I find that God speaks audibly through His people. And embraces us physically the same way. I don't think the sorrow goes away. But it becomes something else. Like others have said, it's always there, it's part of what makes us who and what we are. But only part.

Wow. These posts just broke me. All I know about God is that he takes my pain and sorrow and turns into something of use and benfit to other people. He takes my anger and loss and turns it into compassion. He crushes my arrogance and pride into the foundations of humility. He takes my understanding and dashes it on the rocks of life, replacing it with hope and faith. He promises to wipe my tears away and replace them with shouts of joy and thanksgiving. This tiny little speck of time we call life doesn't even register on the scales of eternity, yet I want to base my views of God on this limited speck. We can't experience great pain without great love, and in the end only the love remains. My job, the reason for my existence, is to hang on to that, no matter what. Then, when I am face to face with God, whoever or whatever hesheit may be, I can hope to hear the words I live to hear: "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

"Do you give the horse his strength
or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?
Do you make him leap like a locust,
striking terror with his proud snorting?
He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength,
and charges into the fray.
He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
he does not shy away from the sword.
The quiver rattles against his side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.
In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground;
he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds."

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

I quoted John 6:65 recently. I sometimes take for granted what a gift that is. Why me? Why do I deserve to be enabled? Man, unreal, the ultimate gift, there's nothing greater. Nothing. I wonder sometimes why not others but then I leave that to his plan.

We can chart our course but God has the final say. (Some proverb, loosely translated, that I read today)

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